“Thank You,” I Said, Moving in for a Hug
a nasty slipping, grating sound- Perhaps I should elaborate.
- at the same ranch
- I’m not a machine
- hidden beneath the refrigerator
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“Thank you,” I said, moving in for a hug. Aimeloxym allowed the embrace, which I easily turned into a nerve pinch that rendered her unconscious. As her metal eyelids fluttered closed they made a nasty slipping, grating sound.
Perhaps I should elaborate. Not on the sound — I think I was pretty thorough in my description of that. Perhaps I should elaborate on why I incapacitated this woman who had just helped me.
If Aimeloxym had received her espionage training at the same ranch in the high desert that Freya had, it would explain her knowledge of and apparent immunity to my sister’s hypnosis. But it also made her far too dangerous. I couldn’t risk her finding out that “where the treetops glisten” was TinselTown, the year-round Christmas theme park I inherited from my uncle Jinx Damocles when he was presumed dead. I also couldn’t risk her making a pass at me, as so many women in my orbit seem to do. The past few days had been pretty much nonstop sex, and I’m not a machine.
As a rope ladder unspooled from the zeppelin overhead, I took possession of Aimeloxym’s harpoon gun and ran.
Through shadowy alleys and deserted warehouses I sprinted, eventually making my way to the royal pied-á-terre that my wife’s family keeps in this city for use during the annual calligraphy competition. I let myself in and went straight upstairs to the third auxiliary kitchen. I used the harpoon gun to fish out the small lockbox that I kept hidden beneath the refrigerator. Inside was my collection of diplomatic passports, a stack of currency, and a bus pass — quite literally my ticket out of here.
I made my way to the depot and caught the first bus to Harmonia, ancient enemy of Contraria. Being married to Fleur made it dangerous for me to enter the land of the Harmonious, but that’s where TinselTown was, and that’s where I hoped to find Tessa. It was a chance I’d have to take.
bonus points for using them in order